Mar leads Binay in LP presidential survey

MANILA, Philippines - Outgoing Local Government Secretary Mar Roxas, President Aquino’s preferred successor, is leading Vice President Jejomar Binay by a wide margin in a survey commissioned by the ruling Liberal Party (LP).

“If elections were held today, Secretary Mar is clearly the winner. Fifty-three percent of the respondents preferred him as against VP Binay’s 37 percent,” Caloocan City Rep. Edgar Erice, who belongs to LP, told a news conference yesterday.

He said presidential wannabes Sen. Grace Poe and Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte were not included in the survey because they are not yet declared candidates.

He refused to name the pollster but described it as a professional survey organization.

He said a confidentiality agreement with the pollster prevents him from revealing its name.

“But this is a honest-to-goodness survey because we will not fool ourselves with a bogus undertaking,” he said.

He said there were 1,200 respondents nationwide – 300 in Metro Manila, 300 in the rest of Luzon, and 300 each in the Visayas and Mindanao.

“The question asked was, ‘Who will you vote for if elections were held today?’ The choices were limited to Secretary Mar and VP Binay,” he said.

He added that 10 percent of the respondents were undecided.

Erice revealed the result of the LP-commissioned poll ahead of the quarterly surveys of Social Weather Stations (SWS) and Pulse Asia this month.

He said he could not “confirm nor deny” if their pollster is SWS or Pulse Asia.

“It was conducted after President Aquino endorsed Secretary Mar as his anointed successor. The significant improvement in our candidate’s rating is proof that the President’s endorsement matters a lot,” he said.

He said this month’s SWS and Pulse Asia surveys would prove their poll is correct and would “vindicate us.”

Aside from Poe not being a declared presidential aspirant yet, Erice said another reason for her non-inclusion in the survey “is because we are still courting her to be our vice presidential candidate.”

Told that Poe appears to be bent on seeking the presidency, he said, “It’s not over till it’s over.”